Syria Way Behind Schedule for Chemical Weapons Disposal

The country will miss a deadline next week to remove all toxic agents.

The U.N. Security Council will be briefed on the delay next week.(BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Syria will miss next week's deadline to have all chemical weapons compounds removed from the country, now running up to two months behind schedule, sources said Wednesday.

With approximately 1,433 metric tons of toxic agents removed from Syria, more than 95 percent still remain within the country, and the joint U.N.-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission to remove and destroy Syria's chemical arsenal is between six to eight weeks behind schedule.

"It's not enough and there is no sign of more," a source told Reuters, with others adding that the Syrian government needs to signal that it is still committed to removing its chemical weapons stockpile.

The chemical weapons compounds were supposed to removed from the country by Feb. 6.

And it wouldn't be the first time the Syrian government has missed a deadline.The first shipment of chemical weapons materials left the country earlier this month, approximately a week after the end-of-the-year deadline to get the materials to the Lattakia port, which sits along Syria's western border.